


Turn Around and Find

by CaffeineGinger



Series: Robin Remix [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Robin (Comics)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, accidental family acquisition, no beta we die like robins, there are no robins... yet?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28136604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffeineGinger/pseuds/CaffeineGinger
Summary: Tim Drake is an emancipated minor. He sets out to celebrate this fact with a bit of world travel before returning to Gotham... but things don't exactly go as planned.Bruce Wayne doesn't know what's causing him more stress: the upheaval in the underworld he can't seem to get a handle on, or the wayward ward whose check-ins could stand to be a little more... thorough.And, though neither of them know it, there is anotherRobinchild waiting in the wings.
Series: Robin Remix [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1680724
Comments: 7
Kudos: 57





	Turn Around and Find

**Author's Note:**

> Uggh 2020 has not been kind to my anxiety or productivity. FYI I have NO idea what kind of update schedule this is gonna have, there are lots of random bits & pieces written but I can't for the life of me ~~decide~~ stick to a decision about how to organize them.  
> Feel free to read now (and comment, if you wanna!), or come back after another chapter or two when it looks like I have a handle on things, lol... (I def won't be offended.)

Bruce Wayne is... worried.

During the day he hides it behind a mask of false cheer and professional charm.

At night the mask is made of synthetic composite, the material bullet-resistant and flame-retardant.

There is a marked tension in the Manor. SIlences that were once companionable are now almost stony, Alfred making his displeasure known. The Englishman hasn’t spoken to his former ward more than is absolutely necessary since the argument the week before.

The stalemate won’t - _can’t_ \- last, Bruce knows. Either Tim will return home, safe and sound, proving all their worries unnecessary… or, Bruce will go bring him back.

Their bargain - when Bruce agreed to let Timothy go it on his own, and Tim agreed to be back in Gotham, in person, before six months were up - said nothing about exceptions in the case of sudden silence. In fact, Bruce hadn’t thought to negotiate any requirements for contact at all. Tim, because he was _Tim_ , had done that all on his own.

Bruce could admit to himself - grudgingly - he had no idea how much of his worry was justified, and how much was paranoia. Neither could he judge how much of Alfred’s came from his sense of history repeating. He really, _really_ hated not knowing what to do.

The worry wasn’t exactly new - he had, in fact, been in a heightened state of anxiety about the trip since even before the kid left France. His plan to keep… _discrete_ tabs on Tim failed spectacularly when one of his European contacts dropped off the grid at the same time the teen decided to move on from the City of Light. (He only knew about the latter because Tim, good kid that he was, had been humoring Alfred with frequent check-ins, short notes via email with snapshots attached. When he hopped a train out of Paris and Bruce _still_ didn’t get a call, he knew something had gone wrong.)

After leaving Paris, the trail marked by his postcards and correspondence wound steadily eastward. Alfred frowned at Bruce a little bit harder each time he emerged from the weeds of his latest investigation - though Bruce couldn’t put a finger on what, exactly, was making the old butler so worried. After all, since the Englishman had not known of Bruce’s plan to cash in a favor with one of Interpol’s finest to keep an eye on their wandering ward, he equally did not know that the man had stopped reporting on Tim’s status long before the teen reached Belgrade.

Tim, whose photographs started out strictly of inanimate subjects - more likely to be an intriguing, but unidentifiable, bit of architecture or the inside of a coffee shot than any major landmark or tourist attraction - didn't start showing up regularly in his own pictures until Alfred asked, only half-joking, for evidence he was keeping himself fed. In the same email with the image of a crookedly-smiling Tim - posing, somewhat inexplicably, next to the stone statue of a dwarf with a shovel - the teen mentioned off-hand the traveling-companion who agreed to be his portraitist for the day. Each time Tim dropped a name of one of the friends he had made, Bruce ground his teeth against the urge to demand more details, smothering the voice in his head that demanded a full background check.

But… it had been nearly a week since the arrival of the last postcard. Alfred had not had a new email since the day after. Two days ago, for the first time, Bruce's text message - a blatant, _Please check in. Alfred's worried_ \- had gone over twenty-four hours without a response. 

No longer able - or willing - to dismiss his concern as paranoia, Bruce gives in and books a ticket to Hong Kong. He's standing from his desk, prepared to go inform Alfred, when the intercom chimes to signal the opening of the front gate.

Bruce frowns; it's late, and they certainly aren't expecting any visitors.

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me about all things Batfam/DC on tumblr [@daemons-not-rogues](https://daemons-not-rogues.tumblr.com)


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